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PowerPoint Slideshow about 'Biological Psychology' - Samuel

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e.g., information from our senses (PNS) are sent to the brain (e.g., the “sound” of a teacher asking a question in class) and our brain (CNS) sends messages to tell our skeletal muscles (PNS) what to do (e.g., raise your hand because you have something to say!)

When the electrical impulse reaches the terminal buttons, they release chemicals called neurotransmitters into the synapse.

These neurotransmitters connect with receptor sites (located mostly on the dendrites, but also some on the soma) of nearby neurons. The neurotransmitters “fit in” to these receptor sites like locks into keys

Neurons fire when their electrical charge reaches what is called the threshold of excitation.

When this threshold is reached, they send an electrical charge or impulse down their axons. This electrical impulse is called (as I mentioned earlier) “an action potential.”

Communication neuron on the next slidebetween neurons is chemical and within neurons is electrical…

Through binding with receptor cells, neurotransmitters alter the likelihood of the receiving neurons reaching the threshold of excitation, thus they are either inhibitory (make the firing of the receiving neuron LESS likely) or excitatory (make the firing of the receiving neuron MORE likely).

..and the balance of neurotransmitters in the body have been implicated in a number of conditions that are very interesting to psychologists, such as depression or schizophrenia (a mental disorder in which an individual loses touch with reality and e.g., may hear voices or see things that aren’t there—called hallucinations)

Agonists mimic the neurotransmitter by binding to the receptor sites just as the neurotransmitters do and having the same effect on the receiving neuron. Agonists are used when it is believed that there is not enough neurotransmitter

Antagonists BLOCK the neurotransmitter by binding to the receptor sites without affecting the receiving neuron in the same way. Because they “fill” the receptor sites, the neurotransmitters can’t bind to the neuron. Antagonists are used when it is believed that there is TOO much of the neurotransmitter in the body.

When there is TOO LITTLE neurotransmitter in the body, drugs may also help by blocking reuptake and thus increasing the amount of neurotransmitter that remains in the synapse

Prozac is an example of this sort of drug. Prozac falls in a class of drugs called SSRI’s (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) and by inhibiting reuptake of serotonin, they increase the levels of this neurotransmitter in the brain.

Your textbook reviews the neuron on the next slidelower-level brainstructures on pp. 52-57 of your textbook and the techniques that psychologists & other scientists use to study the brain on pages 54-55.

You should be make sure you ask if you have any questions about this information!

For convenience sake, each hemisphere of the brain is often subdivided into four different lobes—or four different geographic regions. Review the four different lobes by using Fig. 4.8 on p. 58 of your textbook.

The cerebral cortex provides many functions for the body—some of these functions have been “localized” (i.e., the particular part of the cortex that carries the functions out have been identified) but it is important to realize that multiple areas of the brain work together for most complex human behaviors.